It was a pitchers’ duel in the Bronx, just as we all predicted. Gabriel Hughes went toe-to-toe with AL Cy Young candidate Cam Schlittler, but the Yankees offense was able to get the Rockies bullpen just enough to put them over the top. The Rockies attempted a comeback in the ninth, but fell short once again by a score of 5-3.
Highlight Hughes
Gabriel Hughes was outstanding in his first start at Yankee Stadium, despite some defensive weirdness (again) behind him. He started things off by hitting Ben Rice, but didn’t
let it rattle him. He got Cody Bellinger to ground into a force out, and then struck out Aaron Judge in his first game back from the 60-day IL. Then the defensive weirdness happened.
I’ll just let Gameday explain what happened (with video): Luis García Jr. singles on a fly ball to left fielder Jake McCarthy. Cody Bellinger scores. Luis García Jr. to 3rd. Fielding error by left fielder Jake McCarthy. Throwing error by left fielder Jake McCarthy.
Not ideal.
But, again, Hughes didn’t let it rattle him, and he came back to strike out Spencer Jones. In fact, Hughes recorded four strikeouts during his first time through the order, and six Yankees overall. He pitched five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits without walking a batter. The second/earned run came in the fifth when old friend Ryan McMahon hit a double to score George Lombard Jr., who singled right before him.
“[Hughes was] excellent tonight,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He pounded the zone. His stuff was sharp. The spin was good … I thought he was very sharp in a difficult environment in his young career, so I thought it was very impressive. [He had] a couple of two-strike fastballs yanked by Lombard and [McMahon] back-to-back for that run in the fifth, but other than that, it’s pretty good.”
In total, Hughes also induced 13 swings-and-misses and four groundball outs.
When asked to assess his performance, Hughes admitted he was “nervous,” but you would never know it.
“That’s probably an understatement,” he said. “But I think I did a really good job of attacking the zone. I know I didn’t attack the zone on the first pitch well enough, but I think I was able to come back and get back in the zone and get a lot of weak contact. Any day with no walks is a good day.”
Late offense unable to climb back
The Rockies, unsurprisingly, were shut down by Schlittler. He didn’t allow a hit through the first two innings, including four strikeouts, but then in the third inning, Adael Amador said, “hold my beverage” and blasted a 385-foot homer to right center to tie the game.
It was Amador’s fourth career home run (third this year), and just the 16th given up by Schlittler all year. Schlittler then retired 11-straight Rockies before McCarthy singled in the sixth. TJ Rumfield also singled to lead off the seventh, extending his MLB-best hitting streak to 12 games.
Schlittler was lifted after the seventh inning, allowing just the one run on three hits with 10 strikeouts.
Unfortunately, that was the Rockies’ only offense until the ninth.
Brent Headrick came in for Schlittler in the eighth and sent the Rockies down 1-2-3. Amador flied out to left after losing the Rockies’ second challenge, and then pinch-hitter Connor Norby was sat down on a pitch way outside the zone, but he wasn’t able to challenge. Ezequiel Tovar was also called out on strikes.
Tim Hill came in to replace Headrick in the ninth, getting two quick outs of McCarthy and Cole Carrigg. But then Rumfield finally drew the Rockies’ first walk in the ninth inning — putting him within one of Dexter Fowler’s rookie record of 67 — and that set the stage for Hunter Goodman’s 37th home run of the year (22nd on the road) over the short porch in right field to put the Rockies within two.
That forced the Yankees to bring in closer David Bednar to face Mickey Moniak, who struck out on three pitches to end the game.
On the importance of ‘growth moments’ for his young team, Schaeffer emphasized how “huge” they are.
“That’s what we’ve been doing for a long time now,” he said, “and we’ve got a lot of young players that are getting in these growth situations. But at the same time, it’s not enough for us. We want to win. And we’ve been close a lot of the time and lost those games. But the idea is to learn how to win.”
Bullpen is (mostly) nails-ish
Mark Manfredi came in to relieve Hughes in the sixth, and continued his hot start to his MLB career. Manfredi pitched a 1-2-3 sixth, throwing just 13 pitches and getting both Judge and Chisholm to strikeout looking. Manfredi lowered his season ERA from 1.35 to 1.24 with the perfect inning.
Jaden Hill came in for the seventh and was not quite as successful as Manfredi. He started by issuing the game’s first walk to Jones, but got Chisholm to fly out to center. He then walked Lombard Jr. on four pitches, but then struck out McMahon on three. But luckily he managed to escape the jam by getting Austin Wells to fly out to left and strand the two walks.
Brennan Bernardino entered in the eighth, and unfortunately walked Rice on four pitches to kick things off. Bellinger then hit a double right between McCarthy and Carrigg to put men on second and third with nobody out. And unfortunately, Heliot Ramos made them pay with a 402-foot home run to dead center field to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead.
And Luis García Jr. singled in the next at-bat, which ultimately spelled the end for Bernardino. Bernardino threw 13 pitches, six for strikes, and didn’t record a single out.
Blas Castaño entered, hoping to have a good inning on his birthday. Things got off to a good start, as he got Jones to strike out on a high fastball. And then Chisholm laced one to right that Jordan Beck played off the wall, but then Beck was able to nab Chisholm trying to stretch it into a double. The Yankees challenged the out call, but it was upheld. Lombard Jr. popped out to second to end the inning. In total, Castaño faced three hitters and got all of them out on 16 pitches.
Up Next
Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) will face off against Will Warren as the Rockies look to even the series.
First pitch is at 5:05pm MT.
See you then!
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